The Confederate Congress appointed a
committee on
Flag and Seal chaired by William Porcher
Miles of
South Carolina to review scores of
designs received
from citizens of a flag that would be
symbolic of
the Confederacy's sovereignty. The
selection process
was lengthy, and when Provisional
President
Jefferson F. Davis was inaugurated on
February 18,
the Alabama state flag flew over the
capitol, and a
blue flag bearing the Georgia state seal
was carried
by Georgia infantry in the inaugural
parade.

The design that Miles preferred was
rejected by the
committee, but variations were later
adopted by
Confederate armies to be their battle
flags. There
was a good deal of sentimental
attachment to the
"old flag," and a design similar to the
Stars and
Stripes, submitted by Orren Randolph Smith was
finally
selected. This flag, known as
the Stars and Bars, had three broad
horizontal
stripes for the bars, with the top and
bottom bars
red and the middle bar white. A blue
union in the
corner bore a circle of seven stars,
representing
the seven seceded states that formed the
Confederacy.

The new flag, adopted by the Confederate
Congress on
March 4, 1861, flew for the first time
over the
capitol that day. By December, the
number of stars
had grown to 13, four stars had been
added for the
states that seceded after Fort Sumter
and two more
were added for Kentucky and Missouri.